Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

[gilda_elise]

Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie, is an epic poem by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, published in 1847. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians.
The idea for the poem came from Longfellow's friend, Nathaniel Hawthorne. Longfellow used dactylic hexameter, imitated from Greek and Latin classics, though the choice was criticized. It was published in 1847 and became Longfellow's most famous work in his lifetime. It remains one of his most popular and enduring works.
The poem had a powerful effect in defining both Acadian history and identity in the nineteenth and twentieth century.

I don’t remember exactly the first time I read this poem; maybe sometime in grade school. What I do remember is that I loved it, and that it made a huge impression on me. The forced expulsion, the hope of finding a lost love, and then, finally, the tragedy at her journey’s end.

The poem is very much a love poem, no matter its end. Evangeline’s undying love for Gabriel, and, I hope, his for her, pulls the reader through time and along her search. I would have loved for the poem to have a different ending, but I wonder if its impact would have been the same if it had.

Over the years I’ve read the poem several times. Sometimes a year will go by, sometimes several. But its effect on me has never lessened; I doubt it ever will. And I’m sure, a year from now, or several, I’ll be reading it again.






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Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow